The information was given at a conference jointly held in Hanoi by the WB, the State Bank of Vietnam and the Bank of Investment and Development of Vietnam (BIDV) on June 23 to review the implementation of the second RFP with the BIDV as the main server of this project.

In the second Rural Finance Project, WB funded about US$235 million through 25 financial institutions to lend the poor in the rural areas of 60 cities and provinces.

The Loan Credit Agreement, which was signed on September 9, 2002, has sponsored over 440,000 loans, generating more than 250,000 jobs in 60 provinces across the country over the last six years.

The general objective of this project is to assist Vietnam in economic development, hunger elimination and poverty reduction in rural areas through strengthening banking capacity and improving the poor’s access to financial services.